Weekend Rundown: Salmon Decisions Sasaki in Finland

UFC castaway Sean Salmon,
in his first appearance since his stunning revelation that he threw
a match, defeated Yuki Sasaki
by unanimous decision at Fight Festival 26 on Saturday at Toolon
Kisahalli in Helsinki, Finland.

The 31-year-old Milwaukee native came under fire over the summer
when he admitted in an MMAJunkie.com blog post that he allowed
Allan
Weickert to submit him at a North American Allied Fight Series
show in June.

“In the second round, I took him down again,” Salmon wrote. “He
went for an armbar. I defended it [only to prove to myself that he
couldn’t get it], and then I put my arm back in to give him the win
so that I could return to England -- healthy. Just so you all know,
that is the most embarrassing thing that I have ever admitted out
loud.”

Salmon -- who has suffered a pair of brutal knockout losses to
former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad
Evans and current Sengoku middleweight king Jorge
Santiago during his career -- has won just twice in his past
five matches.

Fellow UFC veteran Jordan Radev
also tasted victory at Fight Festival 26, though he took a much
sweeter and shorter route.

The Bulgarian Olympian knocked out Russian standout Alexander
Shlemenko 4:27 into their co-main event. The loss snapped
Shlemenko’s nine-fight winning streak and marked the first time he
had ever been finished by KO. Radev, meanwhile, has posted 10 wins
in 11 fights.

Cooper Scores Jungle Fight 15 Upset

Affliction veteran Brett
Cooper knocked out the previously unbeaten Sergio
Moraes with a second-round punch in the Jungle Fight 15
headliner on Saturday at the Gilberto Cardosa Gymnasium in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil.

A late replacement for his mentor, Maximum Fighting Championship
lightweight titleholder Antonio
McKee, Cooper made the most of his opportunity. Anchored at
McKee’s Body Shop Fitness Team, he finished Moraes, a former
Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion at the second-round bell.

Meanwhile, Alexandre
Ferreira posted his seventh consecutive submission victory at
the Jungle Fight show, as he coaxed a tapout from the overmatched
Walter
Mazurkievicz with a first-round kimura. “Cacareco” needed just
70 seconds to finish his winless foe.

Quenneville Submits Tamaki at MFL 1

Thierry
Quenneville, a Tristar Gym teammate of UFC welterweight
champion Georges
St. Pierre, submitted Tim Tamaki
with a second-round rear-naked choke in the Mixed Fighting League 1
“The Beginning” main event on Saturday in Montreal. The end came
2:01 into round two.

“The Surgeon” has won five of his last six bouts, losing only tow
world-ranked featherweight Hatsu Hioki
in the past two years. Quenneville has delivered more than half
(eight) of his 15 career victories by submission.

Elsewhere, undefeated UFC veteran Tom Murphy
returned to competition for the first time in more than a year, as
he submitted Jason Cecil
with a rear-naked choke. The 34-year-old Murphy, who defeated
former TKO champion Icho
Larenas at UFC 58, has scored all five of his wins by knockout,
technical knockout or submission.